Regular car maintenance is essential to ensure our vehicles continue running problem-free and smoothly for as long as possible. While some maintenance requires the trained eye of a professional mechanic, other maintenance can be completed by the car owner. One of these tasks is changing a car oil filter. However, before changing your oil filter, you first need to understand what an oil filter does and how to change it correctly. The great news is you can find all of this information below:
What is the Function of an Oil Filter?
Over time, contaminants can accumulate in the engine oil in our car. While this might not sound like it could cause any problems to our car, it can. If this oil is not filtered, it can become saturated with many hard, tiny particles that can cause damage to the car’s engine. A car oil filter helps remove any contaminants from your engine oil, protecting the engine from damage.
How Do I Know if My Car’s Oil Filter Is Defective?
If you’ve never maintained your car before, you probably won’t know how to tell when your oil filter needs replacing. Fortunately, there are some tell-tale signs that your filter is defective:
- The oil pressure in your car has decreased.
- Your engine has started overheating regularly.
- Your car is no longer performing as it used to
- You notice that your exhaust fumes are dirty.
How Do I Change the Oil Filter in My Car?
The first thing you need to do is to find the oil filter in your car.
Once you have found the filter, you can then follow these steps to change it:
- Warm the engine for a few minutes – this will cause any contaminants to move around in the oil, preventing them from getting stuck in the oil pump. This means all contaminants will be removed when you drain your oil.
- Put on protective clothing – you must wear protective gloves before draining the oil from your vehicle.
- Find a bucket – you will need either a bucket or a drip tray to collect the old oil from your vehicle.
- Drain the engine – use a wrench to loosen the sump plug before removing it by hand. When the engine oil has drained, replace the plug.
- Remove the filter – you must use a wrench to detach the old filter.
- Prepare the new filter – you will need to lubricate the seal of the new filter with some fresh engine oil.
- Fit the new filter – tighten the new filter in place by hand.
- Refill the engine oil – using brand new oil, refill your engine oil
- Run the car – the final thing you need to do is run the car for a few minutes to check for leaks.
Although taking your car to a trained mechanic when problems occur is much easier, they can often be easily fixed at home for much less. One example of this is car oil filters. Car oil filters are cheap to buy and easy to install, meaning almost anyone can do it. If your car oil filter needs replacing, why not give it a go by following our advice above?
